Photos in the “1967 Yenko Stinger Convertible model: The Stinger that Don Yenko never built” Album

Description: I like rebuilding old car models, and the rougher they are when I find them, the cheaper they are to buy and the more challenging they are to make something nice out of. This model came to me as a 1967 Monza coupe annual model that was in sorry shape. The paint was extremely thick and my usual paint strippers barely touched it - even brake fluid! I had to sand it carefully back down to bare plastic. Someone had tried to disassemble it some time in the past and ended up breaking a chunk out of the body at the base of the rear window, a place that is very hard to repair on one of these bodies. I realized that the convertible top boot from a recent reissue of the 1969 Corvair Monza kit would cover the damaged area just fine, so out came the Dremel tool and off went the top!

I'm a major fan of the Yenko Stinger Corvairs, the ultimate performance Corvair from the 1960's and where Don Yenko got his start in the C.O.P.O. car business. He built about 110 cars in 1966 including 5 convertibles: All were white with blue stripes and black interiors He built another 10 coupes in 1967 with the exterior colors reversed - but no convertibles. This is my take on what a '67 Stinger convertible would have been like. I left the bumpers on it even though many owners took them off first thing to lighten the car, and I also gave it some factory-optional equipment that wouldn't ordinarily have been in a Stinger, like an AM/FM radio and a wood steering wheel. I built it as if the first owner had ordered it to be a street-driven Grand Touring car instead of an SCCA competition machine.